It sounded so final when he said it. Rikku closed her eyes and nodded. "That's ... that's okay. I mean it's good, right? B-because ... that means I can stop trying, and not worry about ... if it's just over, and he's gone, I d-don't have to t-try to ..."

That's when her shoulders slumped and she started shaking again. Idiot. Crying all over his office like this.

Rikku leaned against him for a long moment before calming down, taking a deep breath, and straightening up. "I'm ... I'm okay. I cried a lot of this out last night, and ... I don't like being sad when I'm sad so I try to feel better even if I don't and ... and it'll all go away if I don't think about it, but lately it doesn't."

She blinked at him. "Whoa. That's what you mean, isn't it? The eating-alive?"

Rikku swallowed, hard. "That's ... kinda scary."

Then flailed a bit because that came out entirely wrong. "Not you, not the you-having-experience bit! I mean! I didn't know that ... I didn't realize that kinda thing wouldn't go away. That's kinda scary."

She looked down. "I spent two days not telling anybody about the hole and when I finally did it was like I could breathe again. You know?"

Rikku nodded. "I had to, I mean, I thought I did. Because they might have stopped me and this was important enough ..." She looked at her hands for a second, smiling oddly. "You know, it's funny, because ... underneath that, once things got really bad? I wanted to find someone and let it all out. Not someone-anyone, someone specific." She shook her head. "It was like a homing beacon. Go, find him, spill it all out, and everything will get fixed. So weird."

"I'm in a sort-of-religions class this semester. By accident. I haven't really been paying attention. I guess I figured it was all more lies and mind control and whatever else." She considered. "Who taught the religions class that you took?" Probably not Ares. She couldn't imagine him thinking about souls too much.

"He was ... eaten by it!?" Her jaw dropped. "Whoa. Is that why they have a twenty-minute time limit? In case it tries to eat you!?"

She smiled ruefully at him. "I'm sorry. About your friend. That's gotta be extra hard, when it's someone like that. Are you ... okay?"

Rikku nodded sadly. "I'm ... I'm sorry about your wife, too. Was that Luke's mom?"

She nearly smacked herself. Stupid question, and personal at that. Good combination!

"A genie? My nails?" She considered. "I don't think it'd be worth it. The rest of the place is way too creepy."

Rikku shook her head. "I only went in once. Rory gave me gloves and told me she'd come after me if I was in too long. That's when I was looking for stuff on ... bringing him back."

She nearly facepalmed. Rory had mentioned him being her ex. Smooooooth.

She swallowed quickly. "What, uh, kind of prophecy? I mean, about you specifically? That's kind of neat."

Rikku was blushing faintly but luckily, had enough tact not to mention her mistake to Professor Skywalker. Somewhere, somehow.

"That's ... that's a good thing, right? Did you do it? I mean, did it work?"

Rikku let the topic go, figuring she'd stuck her foot in her mouth enough for one afternoon.

She nodded. "Yeah. We were hanging out at brunch in the common room, and it sort of ... I don't know. We were just chit-chatting and then we were discussing all this stuff from the past and how we need to start that club with Dawn." She shook her head. "I'm not usually this ... whatever. I'm normally pretty bouncy, honest."

Rikku giggled madly. "No, no! Although boykissing seems to be a big pasttime around here. Something about glitter, too."

She smiled back. "It's uh ... okay, this is kinda depressing again. Wow, so much for that. It's just ... Dawn Summers and I were talking about how, you know, everybody thinks it's gonna be this great thing, to save the world, and once you do it, everyone else gets to have a big party, and you ... you have to go to the, uh. The funerals." She looked serious again, swallowing quickly. "So we were gonna start a club called 'I saved the world and all I got was this stupid t-shirt," and then make t-shirts, so that at least we'd have t-shirts, and ..." She was giggling again. "I know, it makes no sense."

Rikku giggled. "You can totally get a shirt. Oh! Or ask Luke for one of his. He said that since he saved a galaxy, he should get two. We're still fighting over which of us gets the veep spot."

Rikku blinked, then shook her head, laughing. "I don't know what most of that is. I just know that he seems like a great guy. And for a galaxy, he can even have three shirts if he wants them."

She smiled mischeviously. "I'm holding out for veep, though. It was my idea, and besides, I can't be treasurer or I'll steal."